Firefighting monitors are used to control the flow of fluid, such as water, and are typically formed from curved pipe sections that form an outlet (to which a nozzle is mounted) and an inlet that connects to a supply of fluid. The pipe sections are connected together to form a curved fluid passageway and mounted to allow articulation of the pipe sections so that the position of the outlet can be varied.
Monitors may be controlled manually or may be driven by motors, which are either hardwired or connected via radio frequency transmission to a controller. Each driven version of monitor typically has a separate physical configuration based on the communication format that is desired. Additionally, driven monitors may be configured with different motor speeds. For example, most monitors have pipe sections that rotate about vertical and horizontal axes of rotation. Optionally, each axis of rotation may have a different motor speed to tailor the travel speeds of the outlet to the particular application. For example, for a monitor that is mounted for washing railroad cars, it may be desirable to have a fast horizontal motor for the left to right sweep and a slow vertical motor because of the limited vertical up and down travel that is needed.
In addition to the different motors and different communication formats, monitors often need different stow configurations and set limits on their range of motion. Many of these operational characteristics must be manually set. In addition to the stowed position and travel limits, in the case of a radio frequency communication version the RFID must be set. Further, when using more than one control input device, control protocols must be set. Also, most controls have resident firmware. When firmware updates are required, these updates typically require physical change to the control board of the respective controls.
Accordingly, while current monitors are becoming more and more customizable and, hence, specialized in their application each modification requires some sort of manual adjustment or setting. This can add to inventory requirements and the cost to the users.